Smart cards

ANZ PKI uses smart cards to store private keys as well as digital certificates that contain public keys. A smart card is the size of a credit card and contains an embedded computer chip that stores information in electronic form and controls the use of that information.

Smart cards provide:

an efficient, flexible and portable medium for authenticating identities

tamper-resistant storage for protecting digital certificates, keys and other forms of personal information

portability of credentials between computers at work, at home or on the road

greater protection against theft or impersonation.

Smart card readers

A smart card reader is required to allow the reading of smart cards. These either connect to your PC through a serial or USB port or are built into the PC.